Search

There are some online tools that I use in my class for different purposes. Here are my favorites:

Online Stopwatch:A simple timer that will do a countdown or a stopwatch. Set the time, use the optional music, hear a bell when time is up.
It works great when you have different stations set up to give the students a signal of when to move on (a gallery walk, etc.). Project it to let the students peek at how much time they have left.
I also use it when I tell the students they have 10 minutes and want to stick to it…Class Tools also has a great timer. I am just stubborn enough to stick with the one I started with.

Dice Server:
A very simple concept. Click on the page and roll the dice.
As a class we have used it to practice verbs. I have on the board a list of 6 subjects with the numbers 1-6 in front of them. There is also a list of infinitives with the numbers 1-6 in front of them. Example:

Once the dice is rolled, the first die tells you which subject to use, the second tells you what infinitive to conjugate. Using the example above, A roll of a 2 & 4 would mean the subject is Nosotras and the verb is tener. Students write their answer on the whiteboard, I count down from 10 (giving all students ample time) and they show me their answers. Great check up on how they are doing!
I am sure there are many other possibilities.
You can also give the URL to the students and they can use their phones to do the dice rolling, although I prefer the movement of the real dice in partner games.

Random Name Selector:
When you want to do some speaking practice, this site works kind of like drawing out the Popsicle sticks with names on them in elementary classes (I have those too). It does a little more than the sticks could though. You can type in your student names once then have them any time you want! Once you have a list of names you can get a URL to bookmark or an embed code to put in your class page to use over and over again.
As a bonus, once the picker has chosen a name, you can hit a timer. For example, when you are doing presentations. Choose who goes next with the picker, click on the number of minutes were the maximum or minimum.
Or, maybe you just want your students to speak on a topic for a minute or two. Project the page and the visual helps them get their timing right.

Another similar site is the Team Maker. Type or copy and paste names into the site to have teams randomly picked. You can choose the names of the teams, and your output can be in web page or in Excel. I suggest you have your classes typed into an Excel sheet to copy and paste when needed. Those lists come in handy at times anyway.

We go over our vocabulary every day. We begin with Spanish to English flashcards. After a couple of days we switch it to English to Spanish. To avoid students blurting out the answer before others can even process it, we do a 3 count. The 3 count can be a mixture of snaps, claps, stomps, etc. I let the students pick the 3 count sequence before we start. Once they hear the word, they do the 3 count in unison (they do it-participation points count on it). That’s the other awesome thing about Quizlet flashcards…there is audio for every word, and it is said correctly in Spanish (or French) and in English because you set the language for each side of the flashcard.
Practicing with Quizlet is also a choice on their homework grid. I have each of them make a free account at Quizlet, then join my group (based on what level they are in). If they do any sort of practice, I can see it on my dashboard. There have some choices of practice activities or practice games.
Be sure to make groups for each of your levels in your own account. When you make a set of flashcards, add it to the appropriate set.